‘Millions of Filipinos work abroad under the most difficult and inhumane of circumstances. We call for the abolition
of all structures that allow the exploitation and oppression
of migrant workers.’
IT is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy. I love the Republic. Once this crisis has abated, I will lay down the powers you have given me!” — Palpatine
“Recent developments in the global situation show once again that military intervention from the outside and so-called democratic transformation entail nothing but harm.” — Xi Jinping, United Nations 76th General Assembly [https://asia.nikkei.com/Politics/International-relations/Xi-Jinping-s-full-speech-at-the-U.N.-s-76th-General-Assembly2]
Hot on the heels of the recent International Day of Democracy is the General Debate of the 76th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City where the President of the Republic of Finland (Sauli Niinistí¶) warned of a “serious risk of a new arms race” and the President of the Republic of Maldives (Ibrahim Mohamed Solih) raised the alarm on the “threat posed by radicalized extremists.” (“On the 6th of May this year we suffered one of the worst terrorist attacks to have ever occurred on our soil.”)
The President of Slovakia said that basic “rights are not a menu for governments to choose from” and that “Citizens must exercise them freely: in Belarus where 650 people are prosecuted on political grounds, such as the social scientist Valeria Kostyugova — or in the occupied Crimea, or Venezuela, Russia, or Xinjiang,” even as the President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (Seyyed Ebrahim Raisi) pointed out: “ISIS will not be the last wave of extremism.” The President of the Republic of Uzbekistan (Shavkat Mirziyoyev) supports the “adoption of the Global Biodiversity Program in the near future;” the President of the Federative Republic of Brazil (Jair Bolsonaro) wondered aloud “why many countries, along with a large portion of the media, oppose early treatment (of COVID-19);” and the representative of Seoul promoted: “Our policy experience from the Korean New Deal will be shared with the rest of the world.”
One more reckoning (from Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, President of the Portuguese Republic):
“It is not just for the climate that there is no Planet B; it is for everything…Twenty years after 9/11; six years after the Paris Agreement; a year and a half after the beginning of the pandemic…There is really no more time to waste.” [https://estatements.unmeetings.org/estatements/10.0010/20210921/AT2JoAvm71nq/qCorGQWpqkYU_en.pdf]
Time-waster? “Millions of Filipinos work abroad under the most difficult and inhumane of circumstances. We call for the abolition of all structures that allow the exploitation and oppression of migrant workers. The kafala system is one such behemoth that chains the weak, the desperate, and the voiceless to an existence of unimaginable suffering. Nothing can justify the continued existence of this unjust system.” [Rodrigo Roa Duterte at the High-Level General Debate, 76th Session of United Nations General Assembly, 21 September 2021] “Kaya ako lang kung makausap ko si Dracula, ipakagat kita natutulog, kunin lahat dugo mo. Marami kang dugo, ang katawan mo bilog na bilog puro dugo ‘yan.” [https://pcoo.gov.ph/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/20210916-Talk-to-the-People-of-President-Rordrigo-Roa-Duterte.pdf]
Be that as it may, the same date as Day 1 of the General Debate of the 76th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations was the 30th International Day of Peace: “To be able to recover from the devastation of the pandemic, we must make peace with one another. And we must make peace with nature. Despite the travel restrictions and economic shutdowns, climate change is not on pause.” [https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace]
Yes, September 21 is designated as a day of non-violence and cease-fire. A far cry from 80 years prior when Gerald P. Nye (senator from North Dakota) reduced the Prime Factor of World War II then raging on its second year: “Waste our blood and our wealth in destroying Hitlerism if we will, but let us know that when our war is won, we will have defeated, not the cause of this war but the consequence of Britain’s dictated peace following the last war.” [“Asking for Trouble In The Name Of Peace,” Speech delivered before the America First Rally at Newark, New Jersey, September 23, 1941]
Yes, September 15 is designated as the International Day of Democracy, a discourse conducted even in the deadly years of WW2: “As you well know, there have always been timid souls who doubted that democracy could be made to work when disaster threatened.
Their voices have been heard in every great crisis, domestic or international.”
Yet: “In a more tranquil future, students of government will spell out the contrast between the functioning of free government in time of peril and the techniques which enabled Europe’s dictators to strut their little hour.” [Francis Biddle (Attorney General of the United States), “The Power of Democracy: It Can Meet All Conditions,” Delivered before the Annual Convention of the California State Bar Association, Yosemite National Park, California, September 18, 1941] Has that future arrived? “They will see significance in the rugged persistence of orderly legal processes in democratic countries, as contrasted with the procedures of hypnosis or terror.” Do we? Or, we have been privileging porky pot-shots?
Yes, peace: “The global ceasefire must continue to be honored, to ensure people caught in conflict have access to lifesaving vaccinations and treatments.” [https://www.un.org/en/observances/international-day-peace]
Meanwhile, President Biden of USA, Prime Minister Morrison of Australia, and Prime Minister Johnson of the United Kingdom had announced the Creation of AUKUS (a new enhanced trilateral security): “The first major initiative of AUKUS will be to deliver a nuclear-powered submarine fleet for Australia…This will be one of the most complex and technically demanding projects in the world, lasting for decades and requiring the most advanced technology. It will draw on the expertise that the UK has acquired over generations…Our nations and our brave fighting forces have stood shoulder-to-shoulder for literally more than 100 years: through the trench fighting in World War I, the island hopping of World War II, during the frigid winters in Korea, and the scorching heat of the Persian Gulf. The United States, Australia, and the United Kingdom have long been faithful and capable partners, and we’re even closer today.” [https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/09/15/remarks-by-president-biden-prime-minister-morrison-of-australia-and-prime-minister-johnson-of-the-united-kingdom-announcing-the-creation-of-aukus/]
Calls to mind the September 24, 1941 Inter-Allied Council Statement On The Principles Of The Atlantic Charter that brought Belgium, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Soviet Union, Yugoslavia, and Free Frenchmen leader General de Gaulle into the UK-US alliance against Fascism.
“For gentle peace in freedom’s hallowed shade.” [John Quincy Adams]
